Case Study: How Stake uses Cercli to run scalable HR across borders

Discover how Cercli helped Stake replace multiple fragmented HR systems and scale confidently across regions.

Meet Stake

Stake is on a mission to make real estate accessible, borderless, and liquid. Since launching in 2021, the company has quickly become one of the most exciting proptech startups in the region, expanding from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, with over 105 team members representing more than 20 nationalities.

As the business scaled, so did the complexity of managing a growing team across multiple jurisdictions. Stake needed an HR setup that could keep up: one that wouldn’t slow them down as they grew.

The Challenges

One Team, Too Many Systems

Stake came to us with a common challenge we see in fast-growing companies. Their people were spread across countries and platforms, and their HR tools just weren’t built to handle it.

Each office had its own login. Some team members had multiple profiles across different entities. HR operations weren’t centralised, which made day-to-day management clunky and frustrating.

Their People team didn’t have a single, unified view. When it came to running payroll and staying compliant across countries, things got challenging. The other platforms they used lacked the localisation Stake needed, which meant they had to rely on manual processes.

Key tools weren’t speaking to each other. Performance systems like Culture Amp weren’t connected to their HRIS, which meant data had to be updated manually.

Managing Remote Contractors and EOR Pay the Right Way

Stake had quite a few remote contractors and Employer of Record (EOR) arrangements across countries like Portugal, Spain, Lebanon, Jordan, South Africa, Ukraine and India, among others. Their HR stack lacked a consistent process for generating compliant contracts, managing payments, and staying aligned with local regulations. Team members, from direct hires to contractors to EOR employees, were being paid across different platforms and manually, making the process fragmented and harder to manage.

Time-off Complexity Across Markets

They had 20 different leave policies across markets and roles, with unique accrual rules, carryover limits, and entitlements based on tenure. Migrating these without losing historical data and balances was critical.

In her own words, Sasha Bikova, Head of People at Stake, said:

“We needed a system that would allow us to scale; one that offered the global compliance and reporting capabilities of the big platforms… but with the local nuances, like End of Service, GOSI and DEWS, that we couldn’t compromise on. Cercli solved the complexity of juggling multiple HR tools and remote payments across geographies, all in one place. It’s been a huge value add for our People team.”

The Solution: A Single Platform, Built Around Stake Works

We didn’t just plug Stake into a standard setup. We built around how they work. We listened, prioritised, and delivered fast.

One Source of Truth Across Borders

Whether a team member is in Dubai, Riyadh, or working remotely in Portugal, everyone is now managed through one unified Cercli platform. They no longer need duplicate profiles or to jump between tools. Just one login and one place to manage everything:

• Leave & time off
• Compensation & payroll
• Org chart & reporting
• Expense submissions

We created tailored access levels across employees, managers, payroll admins, and admins, each with granular permissions reflecting Stake’s team structure and workflows.

Fully Localised HR and Automated Compliance

Each team's data is automatically tied to the right country’s labour laws, from DEWS compliance in the DIFC to GOSI in KSA.

We completed full DEWS integration for their UAE employees. Stake created a Cercli login on the DEWS portal and from there, Cercli took care of the rest: auto-generating DEWS reports, adding joiners and leavers, and uploading reports monthly without manual input.

Consolidated Payroll Across Employees, Contractors, and EOR

Whether an employee is full-time, on EOR, or a contractor, everyone is now paid on the scheduled day, through a smooth payroll process.

We moved all existing EOR team members from legacy contracts to new, compliant agreements through Cercli, ensuring full alignment with local regulations and mandatory benefits like healthcare. This included EOR onboarding in countries like Portugal, Ireland and Spain.

For contractors, we generated compliant Contractor Services Agreements and tax invoices, ensuring every contract met local standards.

Integrated Workflows inside Slack and Culture Amp

We integrated Cercli with Stake’s main comms channel: Slack. Team members now submit, review, and approve leave and expenses directly through Slack. Employees can submit requests and view who’s away, while managers and admins have expanded permissions to approve.

We also connected Cercli to Stake’s performance platform, Culture Amp, ensuring employee data synced in real time to support reviews, feedback cycles, and performance reporting. Cercli is now a global integration partner of Culture Amp and the only partner in MENA with native integration.

Smooth and Complete Migration, including Leave data

Switching HR platforms can be overwhelming but we made sure it wasn’t. We handled the migration from their old system in just a few days, including cleaning up duplicate records, importing all team data, and validating everything before we went live.

This included migrating 20 unique leave policies, along with accruals, carryovers, policy structures, balances, leave history, and request statuses; all without any data loss.

The Stake team had direct access to Cercli’s product and customer care teams throughout. We stayed connected on Slack, providing real-time support and answering any questions as they came up.

Every Stake team member received training on how to use the platform, update personal details, view the org chart, and submit time off and expenses, ensuring smooth adoption across the company.

Smarter Leave with Milestone-based Accruals

During onboarding, Stake flagged a feature they needed: milestone-based leave accrual. We listened and built it, taking it from idea to live in under a month.

Now, an admin can set any milestone and assign incremental leave awards. For example:

• One additional day of leave granted every year of service
• Five days automatically awarded at five years of service
• Customised leave increments based on role, level, or anniversary

Stake’s leave policy is now fully automated in Cercli. For example, team members can start with 24 days, with 7 days of carryover. On their one-year anniversary, it could turn into 25 days of leave.

Why It Mattered

When you’re growing fast, systems shouldn’t slow you down. With Cercli, Stake finally had:

• A single source of truth for their whole team
• A compliant setup across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and global markets
• Consolidated payroll for employees, contractors, and EOR (all on one cycle)
• DEWS and GOSI handled with no manual effort
• Real-time workflows embedded in Slack and Culture Amp
• Custom permissions tailored to their team structure

Stake is building something big in real estate, and we’re here to make sure their HR operations never hold them back. Whether you’re hiring in one country or five, your HR setup should work the way your team does: unified, efficient, and always compliant.

Facing similar challenges? Talk to us and upgrade your HR tech.